Kaleida Health has selected a site on Transit Road in Lockport as the future home of a Northtowns service hub.
The $2.2 billion health system has for several years been assessing its footprint across the region and plans to centralize operations with hubs in the Southtowns and Northtowns, in addition to its existing operations in downtown Buffalo.
Leasing the site at 6009 Transit Road, formerly home to David Cadillac GMC dealership, gives Kaleida a centralized location to serve residents in Eastern Niagara County as well as northern Erie County communities of East Amherst and Clarence.
The site was previously eyed by Delta Sonic, but traffic patterns at the intersection with Robinson Road made the project unworkable, according to Thomas Sy, coordinator for economic development for the Town of Lockport.
Built in 1978 and vacant for about 15 years, the 24,456-square-foot facility is owned by Benderson Development. It is located about 11 miles from Kaleida’s Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital.
Creating hub sites is part of Kaleida’s larger ambulatory services plan that was paused during the pandemic, said Michael Hughes, senior vice president and chief administrative officer.
“The strategy post-Covid is to look at our geographic footprint and where can we improve access while simultaneously reducing cost by consolidating existing locations into more modern, efficient and convenient locations that co-locate services patients routinely access during a visit,” he said.
It's the third major health care project for Lockport this year:
- Catholic Health last month opened the new Lockport Memorial Hospital campus of Mount St. Mary's Hospital at 6001 Shimer Drive, a 63,000-square-foot hospital.
- Buffalo Medical Group is developing 19,000 square feet at 6950 S. Transit Road, the former KeyBank/First Niagara Bank site, where it will offer primary care, specialty care as well as laboratory blood draws and X-ray imaging services.
Kaleida's plan calls for creating destination sites where the system can consolidate offices for primary care, specialists and other resources needed to support their practices such as lab work or imaging. Hughes said plans call for building a 33,000-square-foot outpatient and ambulatory space to improve accessibility for patients.
In interviews over the past two years, CEO Don Boyd has said the goal is to shift 60% of care to outpatient settings.
“It’s all a way to create better access for patients and physicians and also as a way to grow and emphasize more of an ambulatory footprint,” he said. “When we think about where our population is, it’s no surprise we would have opportunities in the north and south and city.”
While programming has not yet been finalized, the goal is to centralize women’s health, primary care, cardiology and possibly imaging and blood draw.
The project will get its first review Nov. 21 by the Town of Lockport Planning Board. The project will require site plan, environmental, architectural and engineering reviews.